Scars
by Hope in the Shadows
Summary: Nozomi is a ninja int the village hidden in the leaves. Can Kotoro be the one to heal her scars caused by her masters? This is my premiere story so please read. Rated M for emotional maturity.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did you would see A LOT more of Ita-kun! HUGGLES ITACHI PLUSHIE Twi: She would also like to state that although she does not own Naruto she does own Kotoro, Nozomi, and Kurokun. Thank you.

AN: This story is rated M not for lemon scenes but by the mature nature I wish for the readers to have. If this story offends you in anyway, please stop reading. If it doesn't, please review!

SCARS

Many would have described my life as hell. For many years it was the only way of life I knew. My mother had bee a prostitute in the underground sex district of the Land of Tea. I was sold to one of the many child brothels as soon as I was weaned. When I turned five _they_ bought me after _they_ had enjoyed me several times. _They_ took me back to Konohagakure where _they_ were ninja.

I was put in the back room of the house where _they_ lived. It was to be the room in which I was enjoyed and tortured. _They _enjoyed the look of pain on my face when _their_ shaft was put into my small opening. When the pain from that disappeared, a sharp kunai was used to cut me open and bring the pain back.

When I was six the recruiters for the Ninja Academy came to examine me. My scars and fresh wounds were masked by elaborate illusion jutsus and I was given new clothes to wear. I was told not to answer questions without a signal from _them_. It was unnecessary though. I already knew who I belonged to.

"She has enormous chakra reserves and possesses abilities that would take her to the rank of ANBU Black Ops."

That was what they told my so-called 'parents.' _They _were not hoping for this news, but to ignore this examination and not send me to the Academy would bring unwanted attention. Thus it was decided that I was to become a ninja.

Most would assume I would have gained freedom as a ninja. In fact, the opposite was true. The leash that bound me to them was tightened. _They _drilled into me through pain and torture that I was never to speak about what _they_ did to me. I only wanted to see what the world outside looked like. I would do whatever it took to do it.

The day I started the academy, a physical collar was put on me. _They _used it to conceal a scar that couldn't be hidden with an illusion jutsu. To me it just signified the fact that I was an owned person. The teachers thought I was trying to make a fashion statement.

For the next three years I would go to the academy during the day and be enjoyed at night by _them_. Outwardly I looked like a normal child except for the fact that I didn't smile. I couldn't cry either. They were both things my body could not do.

_They_ still gave me scars, but they made sure they were where most people couldn't see. The scars soon started to overlap. Eventually my body was just one big scar.

At age nine. I was one of the top students at the Academy. My specialty as a ninja was the katana. With a sword I was at Jonin level, but most of my other jutsu was at mid-Genin level. I had been given extra training after school to balance out my jutsu level. It made my hell more concentrated. I didn't care any more. I was dead inside.

I graduated that year from the academy. I watched parents congratulate their kids on earning their headbands. When I arrived home there were no happy smiles, no congratulations. I was simply led to the back room and stripped. A chain leash was attached to my collar, as though _they_ thought I would attempt to escape.

That night _they _didn't use the usual opening of mine. When _their_ shaft entered my other opening, it caused pain so intense that I blacked out. When I regained consciousness I found myself shackled to the wall. The evil laughs and smiles around me gave away what would be happening to me very soon.

When the pain came I didn't cry out. There was no point to it. I became numb to what was happening to me. Soon all I could feel was my own blood dripping down my cold, naked body.

Eventually I passed out again that night. I woke up by the wall I had been shackled to. The shackles had been removed but the leash was still attached. I crawled to my bed, which was in the range of the leash. Many of my new wounds opened upon the way there, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. It took me only seconds to fall asleep after I reached my bed.

I was asleep for three days. I awoke to find my wounds bandaged not out of care or pity, but so they wouldn't arouse suspicion. If one became infected _their_ secret would be found out.

The next day I was assigned to my squad. One was a loudmouth boy from the Inuzuka clan. As a ninja of that clan, he used a dog as part of his jutsu. It was a small black dog, still a puppy that for some reason I thought could sense what was happening to me. It always seemed to look at me with eyes of pity.

The other boy on our team was a medical specialist named Kotoro. He had sat by me all throughout the academy but I had never talked to him. It was partly because he never talked and partly because I never talked to anyone. Maybe our silence was the reason that we sat next to each other.

Our sensei was an Anbu Black Ops agent and a former tracker-nin. Our team combination of tracker-attacker-healer was so promising that the higher ups of the village were taking notice. All the extra training just made my hell more concentrated when I went home to _them_.

Three months of intense training -and hell- led up to the Chunin exam. Our team was the only rookie team entered. We passed the first part of the exam without incident. There was no hell for me that night, because the exams were being held in Amegakure. During the second part of the exam, which focused on survival, my secret was found out.

I had been injured fighting another team on the way to the finish. I tried to pass it off as nothing, applying pressure to the wound to my side. As soon as we reached the finish though, I passed out from blood loss. I woke up to Kotoro preparing to heal the gaping wound on my side. I could hear the snores of the Inuzuka boy and his dog nearby. I figured that Kotoro had given them his special recuperation pills and for that I was thankful.

My eyes stuck on Kotoro's pale face framed by long raven locks. I wondered what expression his face would hold when he saw my scars. He cut away the cloth that had started to stick to the wound. I could feel pieces of my flesh rip away, but I didn't flinch. I didn't want to miss any hint on Kotoro's pale face.

"Who did this to you?'

Kotoro's black eyes told me nothing but certain edges of anger and sadness were present in his voice.

"The same people who put this collar around my neck."

Even if he figured out who _they _were, I had a feeling he wouldn't tell anyone without asking me first. I turned my head toward the Inuzuka boy.

"Please don't mention them to anyone. Especially him he doesn't need to know.

He nodded and then started to heal my wound.

"This injury will not become a part of them. I'll make sure it doesn't scar."

"Thank you," I turned my head away from him. What I was about to say was too harsh. "Please just forget what you saw. It will be better for both of us."

I fell back asleep. I dreamed about Kotoro. Why had he been angry about the scars? Why did he even care? I had never seen him care about anyone. He was always alone. I didn't think he even had a family to care about.

When I woke up again, the loudmouth was trying to get Kotoro to talk about me. All he would say was that the wound was healing. He had respected my wishes about telling the loudmouth about my scars.

I pretended to wake up. I sat up expecting to feel my wound open up and the pain to accompany it, but I felt nothing. I felt for the area where the wound was, but I felt cloth instead. It was then that I noticed Kotoro wasn't wearing his jacket. I felt the blood rise to my cheeks.

"Hey! Ya feelin' better?" asked the loudmouth Inuzuka boy who suddenly appeared at my side. The puppy barked and wagged its tail, then jumped into my lap and started licking my face. Kotoro came over and checked my pulse but didn't say anything.

"Ya did a good job on her Kotoro!"

Kotoro acted as though he hadn't heard the loudmouth. This irked the Inuzuka boy to no end, but he knew Kotoro was focused on me.

"Are you in any pain Nozomi?"

The blood rushed to my face. Kotoro knew my name! He had never called me by my name before!

"Are you feeling okay Nozomi?"

"Y-yes. I'm fine." I picked the puppy up off my lap, and then stood up. "I'm gonna go wash up."

I ran off to the bathrooms, the puppy still in my arms. The bathrooms were close to the room we were currently based in. we had been one of the first teams to finish, so no one was in the girls bathroom. I set the puppy down on the counter by the sinks. I splashed my face with water trying to bring down the redness from my cheeks.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, I noticed something missing. It took a few seconds, but I soon realized it was my collar. And not only the collar but the scar that it hid was gone too. I checked the wound to my side. There was no sign of it, but the rest of my scars remained.

A small bark brought my attention back to the puppy. There on its neck was my collar. I took it off the puppy. I didn't want _their_ taint on its innocent soul. I put it back on, but I started to feel _their _power over me fade away.

We all passed the Chunin exam without any more problems. A year later we all made Jonin. Kotoro and I grew closer over this time. Never once did he mention what he had seen that day. Many more had been added since then and I still could not smile or cry. But Kotoro stayed by my side.

The day I gained Anbu rank I escaped from my hell. I never went back to that house, yet I could still feel the chain that attached me to _them_. Until I felt it gone, I would not take the collar off.

I stayed with Kotoro in the house he had inherited form his parents. Even though we had never said it out loud we knew in our hearts that we loved each other. But I still could not smile.

Kotoro tried hard to make me smile. In the beginning he had tried to get rid of the collar and the bad memories associated with it. I could still feel the chain though, so I insisted on keeping it on. Soon he stopped trying to take it off me.

I remember every detail of my seventeenth birthday. It started out with the Inuzuka boy taking me out for dango and sweet bean soup. They were my favorite snacks. He had given me one of his dog's puppies as a present. It was a little black puppy named Kurokun.

I arrived home with Kurokun to find Kotoro's Anbu gear gone and a note left on the table. I knew nothing would have come up that would have required his skills. I set the puppy on the floor, then grabbed the note and read it quickly.

_**Nozomi**_

_**My birthday gift to you is to release you from them forever.**_

_**Kotoro**_

I ran out of the house, Kurokun following at my heels. I headed for a neighborhood that I had avoided for the last four years. It started to rain hard on the village and both Kurokun and I were soon soaked to the bone. The rain didn't faze me though. My mind was on other things.

I stopped outside the house that had been my hell. The lights were on but an aura of death hung around the house. The door was unlocked. I picked up Kurokun and went inside. The silence made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I entered the living room to what most people would call a grisly scene. Two men and a woman lay in individual pools of blood, the fear of their killer apparent on their faces. These were my so-called 'parents.' Staring into their glazed-over eyes, I felt the chain that bound me to them break and disappear.

Kotoro stood over the bodies holding one of my old katanas in one hand, and his Anbu tiger mask in the other. The blood was still dripping off the sharp blade. He looked at me, trying to judge my reaction.

When the chain broke I regained the ability to cry. The tears flowing from my eyes confused Kotoro, until I smiled and tore off the collar. The tears were ones of joy, not sadness. With a quick fire jutsu the collar ceased to exist. I was owned by no one.

Kotoro and I went straight to the Hokage to report what had happened, dropping off Kurokun at home on the way there. While speaking to the Hokage I was forced to relive painful memories of my hell. Tears I had held inside me all these years came out. The Hokage was shocked at what had happened. Her eyes filled with tears and we cried together.

No punishment was given to Kotoro. The people who had been my masters for so long were buried without honor. No one attended their funeral.

My hell was gone but the scars remained. Over the next couple of months I noticed that Kotoro was visiting the Hokage a lot. I didn't give it much thought. One day I received a message to meet with the Hokage in her office. Kotoro was talking with her when I arrived. He immediately came over and swept me up in a passionate kiss. I felt a prick in my neck and before I realized what was happening, I blacked out.

I woke up in the hospital the next day. Kotoro was asleep in the chair next to me, Kurokun curled up in his lap. I watched them both for about an hour, until the Hokage came in to check on me and woke them up.

I asked both of them what was wrong with me. They just kept telling me that there was nothing wrong. It wasn't until I went home and took a bath that I noticed what they had done. All my scars were gone.

My hell is finally over. I have people who love me with all their hearts. They destroyed my sadness and erased my past. My life is happy. I am happy. All my scars are gone.

Thank you for reading this story. Please read and review!

I'm thinking about writing an epilouge so if you guys want it i'll write it!


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